Seo-Refresh

Yesterday, Google released an update to their mobile-friendly algorithm, penalizing sites using giant app install interstitial ads. On September 1, Google told us that giant ads for apps may lead to ranking declines starting on November 1. Well, that algorithm, aka the “app install interstitial penalty,” went live a day late, on November 2. Google announced it on various social networks, including Google+, saying: Starting today, pages with an app install interstitial that hide a significant amount of content on the transition from the search result page won’t be considered mobile-friendly. This penalty will be built right into the overall Google mobile-friendly algorithm, so this makes November 2 the second day of Mobilegeddon. Or maybe not. I have yet to see complaints from webmasters about being hit by a penalty yesterday. Google’s advice? Instead of full page interstitials, we recommend that webmasters use more user-friendly formats such as app install banners. We ...

As over-the-air updates for Android Marshmallow start slowly rolling out to some Nexus devices, many SEOs are wondering how this well-publicized update will impact mobile user behavior and search. This is especially true because Google’s enhanced predictive search utility, Now on Tap, will be deeply integrated in the browser and OS. Google’s Private Index: Google has always collected data from its users for the purpose of personalization (like query, browsing and click history), but now Google also keeps a searchable Private Index. “Phone” is a new search option/index that Google has made available to all users (with or without Android Marshmallow), as in “Search my phone.” You can find it hidden in the Google Now interface when you scroll to the right in the top navigation. This is Google’s entry to your Private Index, and it seems to be much like the Apple iOS 9 Private Index, in which information about your private mobile behavior is stored to your phone so that it...

Facebook has hit user saturation in its core developed world markets. A strong way to boost revenue is for Facebook to make ads work better in emerging markets with older technology. But video, the hottest ad format, takes too much data for people with low-bandwidth connections to watch. Facebook’s newest ad format, “Slideshow” could address this conundrum. Slideshow is an ad format that takes three to seven photos and auto-plays them as a slideshow with transitions so it looks like a normal video but can quickly load on any connection or device. The videos can be set to slide quicker or slower, lasting five to fifteen seconds, though they don’t include sound. Compared to a video of the same length, Facebook says Slideshow file sizes can be up to 5X smaller, which means they will start playing much sooner. Have a look at "slideshow" ads video: For big brands, like beta testers Coca-Cola and Netflix, Slideshow offers a way to reach everyone in the world regar...

We are all expecting the next Penguin update to happen soon, but now we know it will most likely be released within the next two months. Gary Illyes, a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, has posted on Twitter that he expects the release to be within 2015. Since only November and December remain in 2015, we have to assume this release will happen within the next two months. We can also expect the next release to be the real-time version. That means that the algorithm will update continuously in real time. There won’t be specific release dates for the Penguin updates after Penguin 4.0 (which is the upcoming release). Instead, as Google detects spammy links on a site, it may be impacted by Penguin. At the same time, when those spammy links are removed and Google’s indexer picks up on that, the sites will no longer be impacted by Penguin. We will keep you updating about it.....

You know how you hate staged rollouts because they drastically limit your chance to ever receive an app update when it first goes live? I have good news that may help increase your chances of winning the app update lottery! Google has opened a public beta for the Google app on Google Play that should get you testing new features well before the rest of the not-so-tech-savvy world. The beta test opened within the last day to users through a Google Now card (pictured below). Once opened, users are able to opt-in and begin testing, assuming Google has a new beta for you to test. If you aren’t seeing the card, don’t worry, we have the link for you below. Beta Opt-in Link For those not familiar with these Google Play beta programs, just know that once you join them, you get updates through Google Play like you have in the past, they just happen to be newer beta versions most of the time. You will still get prompted to update on Google Play, plus you are still using what is ess...

Digital marketing - The Future At Salesforce.com’s annual Dream-force event, CEO Marc Benioff proclaimed that marketing will be the software giants’ next $1billion dollar business. Gartner reinforces this prediction and projects that by 2017, CMOs will spend more than CIOs on technology. The market is definitely demanding cloud-based, digital marketing solutions, and companies are investing in development to deliver. Where is the market? Buyers, beware of claims of big data processing capabilities and system interoperability completed through APIs. Can building hard-coded APIs really serve the needs in the long run? When will it reach a breaking point? How are big data processing capabilities achieved? Have these systems been re-platformed with the latest data processing technologies? I expect the following: Many systems will be built on older platforms. Challenges for big data processing and system integration are harder to achieve than ever. In the meantime, digital mar...

Mobile searches and beacon technology: The Hype Around Beacon Technology. You’ve heard the scenario: Using beacon technology, a national advertiser pinpoints a consumer’s precise location in a store and serves up a highly relevant ad in response to mobile search. For digital marketers, this is the ultimate game-changer, right? In this Digital Marketing Depot webcast , Warren Raisch and Greg Sterling will share the latest insights and tactics enterprise brands are using to convert online searches to offline sales, as well as how brands are using beacon and other location-based technology to tap into mobile searches. They’ll also discuss how to be present in the mobile moments of need and the impact of Apple’s iOS 9 release on mobile ad blocking.